Display controller, image processing apparatus, and display control method

ABSTRACT

There is provided a technique concerning a preview display function used when predetermined processing is performed for predetermined data, which contributes to enhancement of user&#39;s convenience. A display controller contains a control section  205  that displays, based on the information acquired by the relevance information acquisition section  203 , the objects to be displayed extracted by the extraction section  202  in the display area  902  and  903 , such that objects to be displayed having higher relevance than those to be displayed in the area  903  are displayed in the area  902  and, at the same time, displays the target data acquired by the target data acquisition section  201  inside the area  902  ahead of execution of the predetermined processing to be performed for the target data.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 11/736,692filed on Apr. 18, 2007, the entire contents of both of which areincorporated herein by reference.

This application claims the benefit of priority from Japanese patentapplication No. 2006-116714 filed on Apr. 20, 2006, the entire contentsof which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an interface screen that displaysobjects to be displayed such as an icon, image, and the like thereonand, more particularly, to a display control technique of objects to bedisplayed on an interface screen.

2. Description of the Related Art

When predetermined processing such as image processing is performed forpredetermined data such as image data, a technique in which so-called apreview display function has been employed. In this technique, in orderto allow a user to previously confirm a result of predetermined imageprocessing, an image icon previously prepared for representingpredetermined data in a simplified manner or image data obtained bysignificantly reducing the resolution of the predetermined data isdisplayed to roughly reflect the image-processed state on the image iconor image data (refer to, e.g., Jpn. Pat. Appln. Laid-Open PublicationsNos. 2005-208315, 2005-115683, 2004-282439, 2002-232684).

However, in the preview display function employed in the prior arts,icons or image data displayed on a preview screen only roughly representthe content of predetermined processing, so that it is difficult for auser to confirm the details of the image-processed state, which mayprevent processing from being performed in accordance with user'sdesire.

Further, in the preview display function employed in the prior arts,icons and the like representing setting items having little relevance tothe predetermined processing to be performed are arranged near an imagedisplay area (area in which predetermined data is displayed) ofpredetermined data that a user intend to pay attention to while iconsrepresenting setting items having high relevance are arranged away fromthe image display area in some case, making operability get worse.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention has been made to solve the aboveproblems and an object thereof is to provide a technique concerning apreview display function used when predetermined processing is performedfor predetermined data, which improves visibility in preview display ofthe predetermined data and arranges a plurality of display objects suchas icons representing setting items relevant to the predeterminedprocessing at an adequate position on a screen so as to contribute toenhancement of user's convenience.

To solve the above problem, according to a first aspect of the presentinvention, there is provided a display controller comprising: a targetdata acquisition section that acquires target data to be subjected topredetermined processing; an extraction section that extracts, based onthe target data acquired by the target data acquisition section, from aplurality of objects to be displayed, objects to be displayed associatedwith predetermined setting items relevant to the case wherepredetermined processing is applied to the target data; a relevanceinformation acquisition section that acquires information concerning therelevance between setting items associated with the objects to bedisplayed extracted by the extraction section and predeterminedprocessing applied to the target data; and a control section thatdisplays, based on the information acquired by the relevance informationacquisition section, the objects to be displayed extracted by theextraction section in the display area constituted by the first to n-th(n is an integer number more than 1) ring-like areas, in which an(x−1)th (x is an integer from 2 to n) area is located inside an x-tharea, such that objects to be displayed having higher relevance thanthose to be displayed in the x-th area are displayed in the (x−1)th areaand, at the same time, displays target data acquired by the target dataacquisition section inside the first area ahead of execution ofpredetermined processing to be performed for the target data.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is providedan image processing apparatus comprising: the display controller havingthe configuration described above; an operation input section thatreceives a user's input operation made based on the content displayed bythe display controller; and an image processing section that performspredetermined image processing based on the input received by theoperation input section.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provideda display control method comprising: acquiring target data to besubjected to predetermined processing; extracting, based on the targetdata acquired by the target data acquisition step, from a plurality ofobjects to be displayed, objects to be displayed associated withpredetermined setting items relevant to the case where predeterminedprocessing is applied to the target data; acquiring informationconcerning the relevance between setting items associated with theobjects to be displayed extracted by the extraction step andpredetermined processing applied to the target data; and thendisplaying, based on the information acquired by the relevanceinformation acquisition step, the objects to be displayed extracted bythe extraction step in the display area constituted by the first to n-th(n is an integer number more than 1) ring-like areas, in which an(x−1)th (x is an integer from 2 to n) area is located inside an x-tharea, such that objects to be displayed having higher relevance thanthose to be displayed in the x-th area are displayed in the (x−1)th areaand, at the same time, displaying target data acquired by the targetdata acquisition step inside the first area ahead of execution ofpredetermined processing to be performed for the target data.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view for explaining the outline of an imageprocessing apparatus 1 including a display controller 2 according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the display controller 2according to the present embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a screen display example which is displayed on the interfacescreen 101 under control of the control section 205 in the case wherescan preview processing is performed in image read processing of theimage reader section 103;

FIG. 4 is a table showing an example of icons extracted by theextraction section 202 when image edit processing is applied to theimage data acquired through the scan processing of the image readersection 103;

FIG. 5 is a view showing a screen display example which is displayed onthe interface screen 101 under control of the control section 205;

FIG. 6 is a view showing a screen display example which is displayed onthe interface screen 101 under control of the control section 205;

FIG. 7 is a view showing the interface screen 101 displaying a list ofimage data composed of a plurality of pages on which the image editprocessing is reflected; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a procedure of processing (displaycontrol method) performed in the display controller 2 according to thepresent embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below withreference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view forexplaining the outline of an image processing apparatus 1 including adisplay controller 2 according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. The image processing apparatus 1 is an MFP (Multi FunctionPeripheral) in this example.

The image processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodimentincludes an interface screen 101, an ADF (Auto Document Feeder) 102, animage reader section 103, a manual paper feeder 104, a paper feedcassette 105, an image forming section 106, an authentication processingsection 107, and a display controller 2.

Operation of the image processing apparatus 1 according to the presentembodiment will be described below briefly. When copy processing(predetermined image processing) is carried out using the imageprocessing apparatus 1, user authentication processing is firstperformed in the authentication processing section 107. Subsequently,based on an input operation of a user, who has been authenticatedthrough the authentication processing, to the interface screen 101, adocument set in the ADF 102 is automatically fed toward a document readposition in the image reader section (image processing section) 103. Thedocument fed in this manner is read by the image reader section 103.Subsequently, a paper is fed from the paper feed cassette 105 or manualpaper feeder 104 according to a paper feed setting selected based on theuser's input operation to the interface screen 101. The fed paper thenreaches the image forming section (image processing section) 106 and issubjected to image forming processing based on the image read by theimage reader section 103, and the copy processing is completed.

The interface screen 101 is constituted by, e.g., a touch panel displayand serves also as an input operation for receiving a user's inputoperation made based on the content displayed on the interface screen101.

Next, the display controller 2 will be described in detail. The displaycontroller 2 has a role of displaying on the interface screen 101 aplurality of objects to be displayed, such as characters or iconsrelevant to data to be subjected to predetermined processing performedin the image processing apparatus 1, such as “data transmission”, “callup bookmark list”, “scan preview”, “print”, “data save”, and “datacall-up”. The term “character” used here includes “symbol”, and “icon”includes “figure”. Although the display controller according to thepresent embodiment can display at least one of the character or icon asthe object to be displayed, the object to be displayed is merelyreferred to as “icon” in the following description for the sake ofsimplification.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the display controller 2according to the present embodiment. The display controller 2 accordingto the present embodiment includes a target data acquisition section201, an extraction section 202, a relevance information acquisitionsection 203, a setting information acquisition section 204, a controlsection 205, a CPU 801, and a MEMORY 802.

The target data acquisition section 201 acquires image data (targetdata) to be subjected to predetermined image processing (predeterminedprocessing). Examples of the image data that the target data acquisitionsection 201 acquires include image data transmitted thereto from anexternal device communicable with the image processing apparatus 1,image data read from a document in the image reader section 103, and thelike. Examples of the predetermined processing applied to the targetdata include image reading processing, print processing, copyprocessing, and the like. FIG. 3 is a screen display example which isdisplayed on the interface screen 101 under control of the controlsection 205 in the case where scan preview processing is performed inimage read processing of the image reader section 103. A user makessettings regarding scan operation on the interface screen 101 shown inFIG. 3, such as document type (single-sided document, double-sideddocument, and book/magazine), document size, image type and, thereby,the document to be read is identified. When a user depresses a “scanpreview start” button on the screen of FIG. 3, the target dataacquisition section 201 acquires image data read by the image readersection 103.

The control section 205 sets a display area in the interface screen 101.The display area includes a first circular ring-like area 902 and asecond circular ring-like area 903 which are concentrically arranged,and the first circular ring-like area 902 is located inside the secondcircular ring-like area 903. The above setting items for identifying adocument are displayed on an area 901 located inside the first circularring-like area 902.

Based on the image data acquired by the target data acquisition section201, the extraction section 202 extracts, from a plurality of icons,icons associated with predetermined setting items relevant to the casewhere predetermined image processing is applied to the image data. The“predetermined setting items relevant to the case where predeterminedimage processing is applied to image data” means setting items that canbe used when predetermined image processing is applied to image data andare previously registered in the MEMORY 802 in association withindividual predetermined image processing.

FIG. 4 is a table showing an example of icons extracted by theextraction section 202 when image edit processing is applied to theimage data acquired through the scan processing of the image readersection 103. In this example, the extraction section 202 extracts icons701 to 714 which are associated respectively with the following imageedit processing for the image data: color tuning; density tuning; datacompression; resolution change; rotation; base tuning; sharpness tuning;trimming; pen tool processing (writing of underline); stampingprocessing (addition of watermark); transfer: erasing (erasing a givenpixel part of image); black and white inversion; and scaling processing.

The relevance information acquisition section 203 acquires informationconcerning the relevance between setting items associated with the iconsextracted by the extraction section 202 and predetermined imageprocessing applied to image data. More specifically, the relevanceinformation acquisition section 203 acquires a frequency (for example,selection frequency per previous month) at which a given setting itemassociated with the extracted icon has been selected for image readprocessing performed in the image processing apparatus 1. It can be seenfrom the example of FIG. 4 that the relevance (and selection frequency)gradually becomes lower from the top (icon 701 having highest relevance)to the bottom (icon 714 having lowest relevance) of the table. Asdescribed above, the selection frequency serves as an index indicatingthe relevance in the present embodiment.

Based on the information acquired by the relevance informationacquisition section 203, the control section 205 displays the iconsextracted by the extraction section 202 in the display area constitutedby the first circular ring-like area 902 and second circular ring-likearea 903 such that icons having higher relevance are displayed in thefirst circular ring-like area 902. At the same time, the control section205 displays image data acquired by the target data acquisition section201 inside the first circular ring-like area 902 (see FIG. 5) ahead ofexecution of image data save processing (image processing) in whichimage data is saved in a predetermined format in the image readprocessing for the image data. In this example, icons 701 to 707 aredisplayed in the first circular ring-like area 902, and icons 708 to 714are displayed in the second circular ring-like area 903. The number oficons to be displayed in a given circular ring-like area may bedetermined depending on the capacity of the circular ring-like area.Alternatively, a predetermined number of icons to be arranged in eachcircular ring-like area may previously be determined. Further,correspondence between icons extracted by the extraction section 202 andrespective circular ring-like areas may be determined by previouslydividing icons associated with the setting items into some groups andassociating respective circular ring-like areas with the icon groups. Inthis case, icons belonging to a group associated with the inner circularring-like area have higher relevance. Thus, the relevance between agiven icon associated with the setting item and predetermined processingcan be known from the information indicating which group the icon isbelonging to.

As described above, displaying target data in a display area inside thefirst circular ring-like area 902 allows a user's attention to focus onthe vicinity of the center of the concentric circle. Further, displayingobjects to be displayed having higher relevance to predeterminedprocessing performed for the target data in the vicinity of the centerof the concentric circle allows a user to easily make settings of thepredetermined processing concerning the target data only whileconcentrating his or her gaze on the vicinity of the center of theconcentric circle. Thus, operability can be enhanced.

The setting information acquisition section 204 acquires informationconcerning the setting contents about the setting items corresponding tothe icons displayed in the first circular ring-like area 902 and secondcircular ring-like area 903. Here, it is assumed that settings are madeon stamping processing corresponding to an icon 710 and pen toolprocessing corresponding to an icon 709. In this case, the settinginformation acquisition section 204 acquires information concerning thecontents of the settings made on the stamping processing and pen toolprocessing, such as information concerning type, size, and position of amark to be stamped on the image or information indicating at whichposition an underline is to be drawn relative to the image. The settinginformation acquisition section 204 acquires the above settinginformation from the content of user's input operation to the interfacescreen 101 or setting information transmitted thereto from an externaldevice communicable with the image processing apparatus 1. The settinginformation acquisition section 204 can also acquire a processing image(image such as underline or watermark) used in the edit processing suchas stamping processing or pen tool processing from the MEMORY 802.

Based on the information acquired by the setting information acquisitionsection 204, the control section 205 displays the image data to bedisplayed inside the first circular ring-like area 902 in a state whereimage edit processing according to the above setting contents isreflected on the image data, as shown in FIG. 6. In this example, thecontrol section 205 displays a state where watermark S and underline Uare added (superimposed on) to the image data.

Further, the control section 205 displays the image data to be displayedinside the first circular ring-like area 902 at a resolution that allowsa user to visually confirm a state where image edit processing accordingto desired setting contents is reflected on the image data. As describedabove, by displaying the target data at a resolution that allows a userto visually confirm a state where predetermined processing is reflectedon the target data instead of displaying the target data at its originalresolution, it is possible for a user to grasp a result of predeterminedprocessing before execution of the predetermined processing (on thepreview screen) while reducing a processing load.

In the case where the target data is image data composed of a pluralityof pages, the control section 205 displays a list corresponding to apredetermined number of pages of image data immediately inside the firstcircular ring-like area 902. This list is displayed when a user selectsa display switch icon 901 a on the screen shown in FIG. 6. FIG. 7 is aview showing the interface screen 101 displaying a list of image datacomposed of a plurality of pages on which the image edit processing isreflected. As described above, a user can confirm image data composed ofa plurality of pages on which predetermined processing is reflectedbefore executing the predetermined pressing, which makes it possible topreviously grasp a setting mistake, such as “watermark excessivelyoverlaps main content on the whole” or “staple position is notpreferable in view of a relationship between contents of adjacentpages”, that a user may become aware of only after he or she views alist of a plurality of pages. In this manner, a user can confirm an editstate, change the arrangement of pages, or switch between “front side”and “back side” in double-sided printing on the screen shown in FIG. 7.

The control section 205 arranges a plurality of icons to be displayed ina given circular ring-like area such that an icon having the highestrelevance is located at a predetermined uppermost position which ispositioned above the center of the circular ring-like area and, startingfrom the uppermost position, residual icons are arranged clockwise inthe order of their relevance. As described above, the human nature thatwe move our eyes clockwise when observing objects arranged in a ring isutilized to attract user's attention.

The above ring-like area need not be formed in a completely ring-likeshape and but may be a shape having a cutaway portion (substantiallyring-like shape). That is, it is only necessary for the circularring-like area to surround an adjacently inner area to such a degreethat a user can recognize which of two adjacent circular ring-like areasis located inside. Further, a use of the ring-like area allows a user toeasily grasp the relevance of the icon based on the radius (distance)from the center of the concentric circle and allows a larger number oficons to be displayed as compared to a case where the icons aredisplayed in a tab style or tree structure, so that the ring-like areais preferably a circular ring-like shape. However, the shape of thering-like area is not limited to this, but may be a ring-like areahaving a polygonal outline. Further, a plurality of ring-like areasadjacently arranged to one another need not have similar outline, but aplurality of ring-like areas having different outlines may be combined.

Further, the control section 205 locates the display area on the leftside or upper side relative to the center position of the entire screen.In general, a user interface is designed under the principle that anelement having high importance should be located on the left side orupper side while an element having low importance should be located onthe right side or lower side. Therefore, it is preferable to arrange theicons on the screen on the above principle. That is, when the entiredisplay area is located on the left side, upper side, or upper-left siderelative to the center position of the screen, icons having highimportance are inevitably located on the left side, upper side, orupper-left side relative to the center position of the screen whileicons having low importance arranged in an outer ring-like area areinevitably located on the right side, lower side, or lower-right siderelative to the center of the screen. Thus, it is possible to arrangethe icons on the general design principle of the user interface (in auser-friendly manner), contributing to enhancement of operability.

The CPU 801 has a role of executing various processing in the imageprocessing apparatus 1 and display controller 2 and, at the same time,has a role of executing a program stored in the MEMORY 802 so as torealize various functions. The MEMORY 802, which is constituted by a ROMor RAM, has a role of storing various information used in the imageprocessing apparatus 1 and display controller 2 or programs.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining a procedure of processing (displaycontrol method) performed in the display controller 2 according to thepresent embodiment.

The target data acquisition section 201 acquires target data to besubjected to predetermined processing (target data acquisition step)(S101).

Then, based on the target data acquired by the target data acquisitionstep, the extraction section 202 extracts, from a plurality of objectsto be displayed, objects to be displayed associated with predeterminedsetting items (setting items that can be used when predetermined imageprocessing is applied to target data) relevant to the case wherepredetermined processing is applied to the target data (extraction step)(S102).

The relevance information acquisition section 203 acquires informationconcerning the relevance between setting items associated with theobjects to be displayed extracted by the extraction step andpredetermined processing applied to target data (relevance informationacquisition step) (S103). Note that, it is assumed that the target datais image data and predetermined processing is predetermined imageprocessing.

The setting information acquisition section 204 acquires informationconcerning the setting contents about the setting items corresponding tothe objects to be displayed that have been displayed in the first ton-th substantially ring-like areas (setting information acquisitionstep) (S104).

Based on the information acquired by the relevance informationacquisition step, the control section 205 displays the objects to bedisplayed extracted by the extraction step in the display areaconstituted by the first to n-th (n is an integer number more than 1)ring-like areas, in which an (x−1)th (x is an integer from 2 to n) areais located inside an x-th area, such that objects to be displayed havinghigher relevance than those to be displayed in the x-th area aredisplayed in the (x−1)th area and, at the same time, displays targetdata acquired by the target data acquisition step inside the first areaahead of execution of predetermined processing to be performed for thetarget data (control step) (S105). Note that, it is preferable that theabove ring-like area be a substantially circular ring-like area.

Further, in the control step, based on the information acquired by thesetting information acquisition step, the target data to be displayedinside the first area is displayed in a state where predeterminedprocessing according to setting contents is reflected on the target dataand at a resolution that allows a user to visually confirm the statewhere predetermined processing according to setting contents isreflected on the target data. Further, in the control step, in the casewhere the target data is image data composed of a plurality of pages, alist corresponding to a predetermined number of pages of the image datais displayed immediately inside the first area.

In the control step, the display area is located on the left side orupper side relative to the center position of the entire screen.Further, in the control step, a plurality of objects to be displayed ina given substantially ring-like area is arranged such that an object tobe displayed having the highest relevance is located at a predetermineduppermost position which is positioned above the center of the ring-likearea and, starting from the uppermost position, residual objects to bedisplayed are arranged clockwise in the order of their relevance.

The above respective steps in the processing performed in the displaycontroller 2 are realized by the CPU 801 executing a display controlprogram stored in the MEMORY 802.

In the embodiment, there has been explained the case where the functionfor implementing the present invention is previously stored inside theapparatus, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and asimilar function may be downloaded from the network into the apparatusor a recording medium on which a similar function is stored is installedin the apparatus. The recording medium may be any form of recordingmedium such as CD-ROM which can store programs and is readable by theapparatus. The function which can be previously obtained throughinstalling or downloading may be realized in cooperation with the OS(operating system) inside the apparatus.

Although a storage area from which the extraction section 202, relevanceinformation acquisition section 203, and control section 205 readinformation is realized by the MEMORY 802 (i.e., MEMORY 802 storesnecessary information) in the present embodiment for the sake ofsimplicity, the storage area may be realized by, e.g., a databaseprovided outside the image processing apparatus 1. That is, the storagearea may be provided at any location as long as it can exchangeinformation with the extraction section 202, relevance informationacquisition section 203, and control section 205.

Further, although the image processing apparatus 1 is an MFP in thepresent embodiment, it goes without saying that the present invention isapplicable to a printer, scanner, PC (Personal Computer), and MMK (MultiMedia Kiosk), i.e., an apparatus that performs predetermined imageprocessing such as image forming processing, image read processing,image edit processing, and image pickup processing.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by displayingall images captured by, e.g., scan processing in a “real preview” (usingactually captured image data), it is possible for a user to confirm afinal image to be printed out in a state closer to the actual processingresult, thereby avoiding execution of unnecessary processing such asprinting of image data that has been processed in a fashion notcomplying with user's intention or writing thereof in a hard disk.

Although the exemplary embodiment of the present invention has beenshown and described, it will be apparent to those having ordinary skillin the art that a number of changes, modifications, or alternations tothe invention as described herein may be made within the spirit of thepresent invention.

As has been described in detail, according to the present invention, itis possible to provide a technique concerning a preview display functionused when predetermined processing is performed for predetermined data,which improves visibility in preview display of the predetermined dataand arranges a plurality of display objects such as icons representingsetting items relevant to the predetermined processing at an adequateposition on a screen so as to contribute to enhancement of user'sconvenience.

1. A display controller comprising: a target data acquisition sectionthat acquires target data to be subjected to predetermined processing;an extraction section that extracts, based on the target data acquiredby the target data acquisition section, from a plurality of objects tobe displayed, objects to be displayed associated with predeterminedsetting items relevant to the case where predetermined processing isapplied to the target data; a relevance information acquisition sectionthat acquires information concerning the relevance between setting itemsassociated with the objects to be displayed extracted by the extractionsection and predetermined processing applied to the target data; and acontrol section that displays, based on the information acquired by therelevance information acquisition section, the objects to be displayedextracted by the extraction section in the display area constituted bythe first to n-th (n is an integer number more than 1) ring-like areas,in which an (x−1)th (x is an integer from 2 to n) area is located insidean x-th area, such that objects to be displayed having higher relevancethan those to be displayed in the x-th area are displayed in the (x−1)tharea and, at the same time, displays the target data acquired by thetarget data acquisition section inside the first area ahead of executionof the predetermined processing to be performed for the target data.